Before 1971 there was no family planning or population management programs in Thailand. By that time the population was growing at 3.3$ per annum, implying a doubling of population in 25 years. There was even a pro-natalist stand, where the mother was decorated for the size of her family, and the wedding toast proposed that the Bride and Groom "fill the house with children and the village with grandchildren".
Thailand began to introduce a dramatic fertility revolution in the early 1970s. The National Family Planning Program carried out by the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) had been able to reach all towns and around 20% of the villages by 1973, however there were still many rural villages where the MOPH did not visit. In 1974 PDA proposed an imaginative expansion to the project and began to provide information and services to those villages not yet contacted by the MOPH.
PDA in cooperation with the District Office selected and trained volunteers from villagers in the community who were well liked, respected and closely associated with its members. These people were supplied with an initial stock of contraceptives for them to distribute themselves within their village.
| With a service point in the heart of a community, maximum convenience for neighbours and villagers dramatically improved the promotion of family planning. The utilization of volunteers also promoted a 'community helping the community' aspect which involved them taking the time to visit and educate housewives as well as handing out birth control devices. In 5 years this program had reached 15,000 villages, or approximately one third of the villages at that time. |  |
The people were able to get information and contraceptives in their own village without travelling to a clinic in a town. Also, during the first 5 years 320,000 rural school teachers were trained in important issues like population growth, family planning and contraception. The teachers in turn provided contraceptives and information to the parents of their students, who were also taught basic knowledge of family planning. Most rural school children were able to name nearly all contraceptive methods available. Incentives such as these were also applied to urban areas where PDA has recruited volunteers from industrial plants, slums and even taxi drivers.
PDA was accredited with having introduced the community based family planning service. Using the philosophy that in order for family planning to succeed, contraceptives need to be as freely available in villages as vegetables, hence the name Cabbages and Condoms.
So as to further facilitate the work force, PDA offers free male vasectomies on special occasions such as Father's Day, Labor Day and other national days such "Kangaroo Vasectomy" on Australia Day, "Dragon Vasectomy", for China; and "Eagle Vasectomy" for the Fourth of July celebrations of the USA - where free hot dogs were given to every vasectomy recipient. Nonetheless, free male vasectomies are provided every day at PDA.
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As a result of PDA's extensive family planning efforts in conjunction with the national program, Thailand's birth rate experienced a dramatic drop from 3.3% in the late 1960s to only 1.2% today. |
| At the same time, PDA offered health check-ups and x-ray services to students who passed entrance exams to university. PDA also arranged health check-ups at schools, factories and villages. PDA educated rural people on the importance of toilets and constructed sanitary toilets in ill-serviced villages across the regions. |  |
The toilets were constructed in agreement with villagers so they contributed funding and labor and thus created personal interest in the prevention of the spread of intestinal and parasite diseases.
Twelve years after the establishment of PDA's family planning and population management activities, along came AIDS. The first AIDS victim in Thailand was detected in 1984 and now the current number of infected people stands at more than 850,000. If this problem was not tackled, it was predicted that by the year 2000 there would be between 2-4 million infected persons, and one in every three deaths in Thailand would be AIDS related.
PDA pushed for, and helped establish, a national AIDS education program. The Prime Minister became the Chair of the National AIDS Committee, and funding for the program was increased from USD$2m to USD$50m in 1991. Every Government Ministry was given a role and funding for the program, as well as educational institutions, the Buddhist ministry and industry. There were also compulsory broadcasts on radio and television for 30 seconds every hour. PDA also educated its network of village family planning agents in the causes and prevention of AIDS, emphasising compassion and understanding.
The campaign also aimed to change sexual norms of behaviour in society, particularly that of people involved in the sex industry, young people, and the public in general. Several sex and AIDS education projects tackled the issue through training and peer group exercises in schools, prisons and other groups in the community.
In cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, PDA also trained government officers, district officers, governors and community leaders such as monks, to inform the wider community about AIDS. Training was also organized for employees of private companies to make them aware of the dangers and to de-stigmatise the disease.
An anonymous mobile clinic unit also provided blood tests for AIDS in areas close to red light districts and places of entertainment, so that anyone could be tested in strict confidence and privacy. Moreover, PDA conducted "Condom Nights" and "Miss Anti-AIDS Beauty Pageants" in the most popular sex districts of Bangkok. This provided an excellent opportunity to inform the target group at most risk in society, prostitutes and their clients, about AIDS and distribute condoms and anti-AIDS materials.
In 1997 the number of new cases of AIDS was down 77 percent.
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The Tarn Nam Jai Babies' Home provides care for abandoned children of HIV positive parents. Follow the link to learn more about the operation of the home, and how you can support its operation. |
After the significant efforts with villagers through family planning, it was realized that there was more to develop; for example clean and accessible water. PDA therefore organized a water resource development project in 1980, stressing the need to minimize disease from contaminated water supplies. Villagers were instructed to build and maintain the so-called "Mechai rainwater jars" (tanks) in a cooperative effort.
Each villager helped build water jars for every household under the close supervision of a PDA member. Eventually every household in every village targeted possessed its own water tank. The joint work performed by the villagers demonstrated that community development was possible in the Thailand context.
As a result of PDA's efforts, over 20,000 11 cubic metres (11,000 litres) rainwater tanks were installed to provide a year round source of clean water for consumption, enough to last a family for an entire dry season. Water resource development was also extended to utilizing shallow and deep wells, freshwater water supplies and dykes according to each village's needs. In fact, water resource development was just the start to PDA's overall development program, because the reason for the shortage in water was the lack of rainfall during the rainy season which is ultimately caused by the lack of forests. Therefore, PDA was forced to realize that more than one problem existed and thus began to train people in the values of the environment and to take care of their forests and make them aware of the impact of logging and destruction.
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This page forms part of the Home Pages of the Population and Community Development Association (PDA) Thailand. The site has been created by Cliff Ogleby with the assistance of many of the PDA staff and volunteers.